5.25.2010

recently heard about some really awesome people who are doing a project similar to ours... only they are over in europe!
you can read about their adventures here:

http://vivalaeurope.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html

its really beautiful that this message we're sharing is on the hearts of so many people already... i'm so blessed to have been given the opportunity to go on this crazy adventure and i want to encourage all of you who are at home this summer to step out and walk in love right where you are! there are so many individuals around you, you can even start with your family.
~ginger

we love hearing your responses/thoughts/questions/comments/anything! so please email us if you have something to share :)

here is something i received just the other day... thought you might like to read it :)

" I hope you're having a good summer and a good time with your project!! I guess I just wanted to tell you how it really inspired me right now...I was feeling really horrible and insecure about myself after starting a new job..I couldn't sleep cause my mind was still racing, so I got on facebook and saw there was a message about Love Each One, and I read the blog. It was like exactly what I needed..I was so worried about me, whether I'm going to fit in or not at work, why some of my friends haven't texted me back, whatever (see I can't even stop saying "I") and it just made me realize that I should stop worrying about myself and just have love. (Cus that's all you need, right? :) I mean it sounds corny but it's so true! That when I'm worrying about being shy around people I've just met I just need to smile. Or when I'm feeling like nobody cares I just need to put out twice as much caring for others. That it could always be worse and I could always have much much worse things to worry about...... I think it's reallly important for people to continue to show their love, even when things like frustration, anger, insecurities ( :D), etc get in the way..It's so hard to do sometimes but it's something I'm working on getting better at. And also trying to remember that when other people don't seem so friendly or loving that I need to consider that they may be having a bad day too or just broke up with their bf/gf or whatever the case may be. That it's really not anything personal or against you. I think people are quick to assume that (or I am anyways!) "

This post should have been posted a few days ago. My bad. :) Anyhow, When we arrived in Shreveport Louisiana last week we didn't know what to expect. None of us had ever been there.

Our host was a super cool friend of ours, Adam, who works for moonbot studios. Moonbot is an awesome world of art, storytelling, and wild imagination. Adam had mentioned to us that the studio was helping put on an Art show for the 50th anniversary of Bubble Wrap, and that they could use our help if we wanted to help. But I didn't think that was good enough.

As we drove around the town I had my eyes peeled for where we should help. I was looking for lower income situations. Were there any shelters? soup kitchens? orphanages? a red cross? I felt like that's what we should be looking for. Its kind of the vibe for where we had volunteered in our previous stops. There were such options we could have found, but as we sought out possibilities like these we had to rethink what we were all about on this trip.
We felt like we were looking for needs that fit a certain mold. But needs exist beyond the places we feel they are obvious, like homeless shelters. Even the person who has a wonderful job and nice roof over his head has problems. That person still has dreams, and fears, and needs. Some needs seem insignificant, but that's an idea we want to disprove. Every way you can help someone is important because that person is important.

Its a lesson I'm still learning. We decided that helping with an art show was important because the people who were putting it on were important. And we had a blast. It was great. It was one of the weirdest things I have ever helped with. The show was celebrating bubble wrap and using it in very odd ways to create art, from bubble wrap clothing, to a giant blow up teddy bear. We helped take this living room set and wrap every piece of it in bubble wrap. We were able to meet and talk with some really awesome artists out there. We got to help them with what they needed and even share some good louisiana cooking with them. I wouldn't have had the day any other way.

So we didn't volunteer at some humanitarian organization, but we didn't need to. We are learning that you often don't have to go super far to look for needs, because they present themselves to us right where we are.